Week in Review: Putin and the Syria Talks, Strife in the Balkans, Chinese Reserve Currency, and More

Week in Review: Putin and the Syria Talks, Strife in the Balkans, Chinese Reserve Currency, and More

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Week in Review: Putin and the Syria Talks, Strife in the Balkans, Chinese Reserve Currency, and More

All you need to know about everything in the news this week

October 31, 2015

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Top Stories:

Prince of Rosh

  • In February 2014, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry noted: “Russia’s president is taking on authoritarian power and restoring the Soviet Empire. Biblical prophecy speaks of a tyrant from that area committing some shocking acts.”
  • “Is President Putin going to fulfill that prophecy?” asked Mr. Flurry. 

    • Syria and the shaky Russia-Iran alliance

  • Diplomats from nearly 20 countries met in Vienna to discuss the future of Syria.
  • For the first time ever, Iran was invited to the talks—at Russia’s behest.
  • “Although it looks like Moscow and Tehran have a clear, common goal—to prop [Bashar] Assad up and crush the remaining rebel groups on the ground—their long-term visions for Syria and the region differ,” wrote now. “Their political and military strategies reveal that the current alliance is a temporary one.”

    • War about to break out in the Balkans?

  • Foreign Policy asked this question on October 26.
  • “Lost in the cacophony of international news about Russian airstrikes against U.S.-backed anti-Assad rebels in Syria and refugees flooding through the Balkans on their way to Western Europe, a crisis is brewing in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the European Union’s southeast flank. And here, too, Moscow has a hand in the mischief-making.”

    • Russia and China: A budding Eurasian colossus

  • The Russia-China relationship is developing into a Eurasian “colossus,” and that’s a development the West should be concerned about, assessed the National Interest.
  • “The Trumpet and its predecessor have forecast [the Russia-China axis] for more than five decades, but now the world is catching on to this undeniable trend—and realizing the massive implications,” we wrote in January. “We’ve been looking for this seismic geopolitical event for half a century. And now, somewhat suddenly, it has arrived. … The Russia-China axis is no longer merely a forecast. It is here, and it is changing the world.”

    • IMF to give China strong reserve-currency nod

  • Bloomberg News reported October 23: “International Monetary Fund representatives have told China that the yuan is likely to join the fund’s basket of reserve currencies soon.”
  • China certainly doesn’t have everything needed for a global reserve currency. But this development is another step by the world away from dependence on the U.S. dollar.
  • As we wrote in our July Trumpet article “Deathblow to the Dollar,” “Reserve currency status … gives America special privileges and enormous power. … The blows to America’s economic might are descending rapidly and forcibly. Brace yourself: A new economic age is about to begin.”

    • Other news:

  • Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani reportedly admitted his nation pursued nuclear weapons during the Iran-Iraq War.
  • Greece’s bailout deal is starting to show cracks. Creditors are threatening to delay an October payment because Greek is struggling to implement promised austerity reforms.
  • A new cold war could be developing deep under the sea. Reports indicate Russian submarine forces are interested in monitoring and targeting global Internet cables running under seas and oceans.

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